GULFPORT — The St. Patrick Fighting Irish (7-3) used a balancedattack of pounding the football and throwing it around to run theWesson Cobras (7-3) straight out of the first round of the Class 2Aplayoffs to the tune of 49-28 Friday night.

The Cobras went toe to toe with the Fighting Irish in the firsthalf, outslugging the Irish with smash-mouth football. Wessonjunior fullback Jeromy Smith capped off a brilliant 1,000-yardseason with another 133 yard performance on 23 carries and threetouchdowns. The fullback blasted the St. Patrick defenders allevening, yet goat zero defensive support from the Cobradefenders.

St. Patrick quarterback Bo Underwood and tailback Ashton Craftcombined for 286 yards rushing as they shredded a Cobra defensethat could not force a punt. The Fighting Irish unleashed apunishing second half performance that outscored the Cobras 28-7 inthe final two quarters. The game was tied 21-21 at the half.

“They just lined up and won the line of scrimmage,” explained Cobrahead coach Tommy Clopton. “They simply made more plays than we did.I hate it for our seniors, cause they are a fine group of youngmen.”

The Irish got on the board first with a Craft 3 yard TD run. TheJordan Matthews PAT was good and the Irish led 7-0 with 6:56 leftin the first quarter.

The Cobras answered immediately when they marched 80 yards topaydirt capped off by a Kyle Cross touchdown run of 8 yards. ChrisFink nailed his first of four successful PATs to tie the game at7-7. The drive began with a little trickery when John Craft tookthe sweep and hit senior wideout Chris Fink for 32 yards onWesson’s first play.

Wesson took the lead following a Zach Williams fumble recovery.Jeromy Smith pounded his way in from 2 yards out to give the Cobrasa 14-7 lead. St. Patrick would answer immediately as Underwood hitDylan Herron on a 15 yard TD pass to tie the game at 14-14.

The Cobras proceeded to immediately return the favor bysteamrolling the Irish down the field and allowing J. Smith tosplash in from 5 yards out. The Fink kick put the Cobras up 21-14with 2:26 left before half.

The Cobra defense offered little resistance on the next Irishpossession as St. Pat scored 69 seconds later on a 10 yardUnderwood toss to Kyle Ladner. The score was deadlocked at 21 atintermission.

The second half saw the St. Patrick offense roll while the Wessonoffense sputtered. Underwood rushed for 3 second half TDs from 3,37, and 51 yards respectively on top of another Craft run of 12yards. The onslaught was too much burden for the Cobra offense tohandle. They could only muster a J. Smith touchdown run of 5 yardswith 4:06 left in the game as a consolation prize.

Sophomore quarterback Matt P. Smith completed 6 passes for 104yards and Fink caught 3 balls for 90 yards in another solidperformance for the senior.